Panda

I was totally excited to hear Panda was coming out with a nice Cherry Licorice flavor. I love Panda’s licorice flavors, and aside from the standard black licorice, their discontinued Strawberry is sorely missed within my candy repertoire. So here’s a new red licorice that could possibly take the place of the strawberry? Sign me up.

I love the packaging design. The licorice comes in a resealable 6 oz bag, which as the iconic Panda illustration on it, along with a clear image of the licorice and red cherries. It’s really a pleasing design.

The first thing that told me right away that this cherry licorice is different from all the other kinda I’ve had before is the ingredients list: Molasses, Wheat Flour, Cherry Puree, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Black Carrot Juice Concentrate, Licorice Extract. See that? Cherry puree! None of those wonky medicinal tasting artificial flavors. This is the real stuff.

The pieces are a deep maroon color with a sticky texture to them. I feel a film on my hands when I handle them, but part of that could be the humidity. They’re about an inch long and have that star cross section pattern to them. The pieces smell starchy with a hint of black cherry.

The texture is surprisingly thick and chewy. They dissolve after maybe 20 chews, which is a lot longer than what I was expecting. The flavor is wonderful, way more intense than I expected. It has that iconic black cherry flavor to it, not that fake “red” flavor you get with most licorice. It’s oddly moist and the chew isn’t sticky at all. Really lovely.

If you’re into red licorice, you must try this stuff. It’s awesome. My boyfriend loves it and has since polished off the bag. Try some of this and never look back at Twizzlers, I’m serious.